Debunking Coronavirus Conspiracies
The battle against the Coronavirus continues.
Though at times it is difficult to understand what that battle actually is.
Yesterday the World Health Organisation stated that they have no indication that North Korea has any cases of the Coronavirus. Yet according to an article on the website The Diplomat, published on 14th February…
“True to its reputation as one of the most isolated and strictly governed countries in the world, North Korea appears to have adopted somewhat bizarre tactics to tackle the virus, according to some media reports.
The latest example is Pyongyang’s decision to make cremation mandatory in the country. North Korea’s central government reportedly ordered health and local authorities to burn all dead bodies, according to a North Korea-based source who spoke to Daily NK.”
Which is remarkably similar to the stories coming out of China… with crematoria working 24/7 and 40 mobile crematoriums supposedly roaming the streets of Wuhan burning animal carcasses and medical waste (though those disposed to more lurid whispers suspect they are burning something more sinister).
And…
“Meanwhile, North Korea is claiming that burdock is a cure for the coronavirus and promoting a medicine made with it.
Amid the fear of the virus, it is all too common to see rumors or disinformation about possible, but unconfirmed, cures for the coronavirus spreading online. But the difference in North Korea is that the government itself is officially pushing a weed as a cure for the virus.
North Korea’s state-run propaganda website Sogwang published an article on February 9 to promote the medicine “Burdock Antivirus Solution.””
Which for a country without a single case of Coronavirus is rather odd.
Meanwhile Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation has declared war on misinformation and Conspiracy Theories.
On one level this is a tussle between Dimension B and the ‘Alt-Right’…. perhaps ‘Alt-Right’ is not the correct term as it provides ammunition for those in Dimension B… but certainly the conspiracy theories do have certain predictable predictable elements.
At the heart of this wrestling match is the Darwinian question of nature vs nurture: it is really just an extension of the ongoing culture wars, the shouting match about censorship, and Dimension B’s struggle for Utopia (in which all opinions, except the correct opinions, are suppressed in the name of openness, tolerance and diversity).
The massive problem with these conspiracies are their reliance upon narratives of American Imperialism.
Take Alex Jones’ pet expert Francis Boyle.
Mr Boyle is an interesting character, and exemplifies why use of the term ‘Alt Right’ is problematic. For in many ways, particularly his views of ‘Israel’ it could be argued that he would find a ready home on the left of the Labour party, or indeed alongside such luminaries as Cynthia McKinney or Robert David Steele.
Being a nosey sort, I happened to watch Mr Boyle on Infowars, and my spidey-sense tingled when he started reading from a study by a French university. Being Alex Jones he skipped over this piece of information (America First and all that), preferring to the get to the bit about how the virus had been made in North Carolina, and sold to the Chinese… no doubt by Hillary, Soros and Prince Andrew via Epstein’s island.
Then this piece of news appeared today.
Good news in Hong Kong, they have found the stolen toilet roll.
Oh, and perhaps the riddle of why the Chinese army were breaking fishing rods in Hubei has been solved. It might have something to do with the 2,000 tonnes of disinfectant they poured down the drains in Wuhan.
In case you are wondering the Chinese are currently using 540 million face masks per day.
Elsewhere the number of confirmed cases in South Korea has gone past 100. Nine people have died in Iran. And fights have broken out in Ukraine between police and protestors about the siting of quarantine camps.
Previous posts…
Feb 3rd — Coronavirus May Be Serious
Feb 4th — Coronavirus Spreading, But Rumours Contained
Feb 5th — Report Says Thousands Killed By Coronavirus in China
Feb 6th — Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories
Feb 7th — Coronavirus Misinformation
Feb 8th — Coronavirus ‘Self Isolates’ China
Feb 9th — China Comes Clean on Coronavirus
Feb 10th — Britain Braces for Coronavirus
Feb 11th — Coronavirus: Chinese Market News
Feb 12th — Coronavirus Relaunches As COVID19
Feb 13th — Coronavirus Figures Explained
Feb 14th — Coronavirus Phoney War
Feb 15th — Coronavirus And AIDS
Feb 16th — Creating the Coronavirus
Feb 17th — Coronavirus Kamikaze
Feb 18th — Coronavirus Conundrum
Feb 19th — China Coronavirus Crisis
